The Rover ~ Sick Again

June 3, 1977
Tampa, FL US
Tampa Stadium


The Song Remains The Same,
(The Rover intro) Sick Again,
Nobody's Fault But Mine.

Show ends early due to rain.

The promoters then ran a full page ad, apologizing to fans for the turn of events it read:

Concerts West Apologizes and is sorry for the humiliation & inconvenience to you and your faithful fans at Tampa Stadium, June 3, 1977.

You did everything that you could and wanted to do so much more. You are the best and deserve the best, not the worst treatment.
-Respectfully, Concerts West.

News Report: At Least 100 Injured At Led Zeppelin Concert

TAMPA Fla. - City officials, reeling from a mini riot which erupted when a thunderstorm washed out a Led Zeppelin concert, canceled a rain check rerun Saturday, leaving fans from as far as Michigan and New York holding "rain or shine" ticket stubs.

"If I were in Buffalo, I'd go home right now," said Bonnie Strickland. The 19-year-old youth and three companions had driven 24hours to get to Florida for the concert. Strickland said they were the first ones in the stadium when the doors opened at 11:30 a.m. Friday for the8:30 p.m. concert. After spending the day in 90-degree weather on the sun baked football field, they settled down for the concert.

The British band played for 20 minutes before the thunderstorm hit. About 45minutes later the concert was called off.
The cry "We want Zeppelin. We want Zeppelin" came from the 70,000 fans as rocks and bottles began flying onto the stage."We had what had to be called a small riot. There were between 3,000 and4,000 people who were unruly and disorderly," Tampa Police spokesman Johnny Barker said. About 250 police officers, all in riot gear and using billy clubs, broke up the rioting and herded the fans out of the stadium. The scene was followed by 26 reported traffic accidents near the grounds. "The cops didn't give any warning," one teen-aged girl said. "They just waded in. I ended up at the bottom of the crowd and a cop kicked me in the head. My brother got a broken leg and broken ribs."The melee left an estimated 100 fans with injuries. Eight were arrested. Shift Commander Tom Wilson said "in the neighborhood" a dozen officers were treated for injuries." One had a concussion, there was one with a broken hand, one with a broken ankle, one with cut lips and some teeth knocked out, one with a dislocated shoulder..." There were so many people you just couldn't move," a 32 year-old man from West Palm Beach said: "I was just trying to get away. The ticket said rain or shine."

Type &fmt=18 at the end of the URL for high quality sound and pix!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• the
• nobs

[guitormentor]

I was there too! Zep played 3 songs & left in a helicopter-never to return. We drove 51/2 hours from Miami to Tampa. Cops were beating everyone. Bottles were flying. My GF was crying- we saw so much blood. It was by no means a "small" riot! You were a cop-hater after seeing all this blood. Zep sucks for leaving! It had stopped raining when the cops started beating people to get them to leave. On the way out, I saw them grabbing folks by their hair & beating them with clubs. Famous disaster...

[Conneyfogle]

Wow! now that sounds like a heavy concert!!!

[GeoJ]

I was there, drove up from Ft. Lauderdale and was around 100 feet from the stage. - The Tampa cops were absolute, TOTAL assholes. Amazing that no one, including myself, was killed in the crush to get out.

The most terrifying thing I've ever been through in my life.

[brentrad]

we were there too ..it was way more gnarly than they made it out to be

[sbeads1]

and it SEEMED they were beating the hell out of anyone they could get to or within reach of their riot sticks... everything went crazy in what surely was less then a minute. It was really scary and we were lucky to be in the stands, 'cause it looked like the entire field erupted like a wave moving through the stadium... I barely remember how we made it out of the stands... crazy.

[sbeads1]

I was there... had just graduated from high school (HB Plant) and had seen Zeppelin in May 1973 at the stadium for an awesome show... so we were really "jacked up" for this one... it was NOT a small riot, it was effin' mayhem. You could see the whole thing unfolding from the stands... increasingly impatient fans for the show to re-start, increasing rowdiness... then the bottles and stuff flying and all of the sudden the cops let loose from the front near the stage and the side of the field

[MasterWitchDoctor]

I drove up from Everglades City with friends and remember seeing a guy jump on stage then get shoved off by a cop. Thats when the guy told everyone to leave or you will be arrested. The next thing I remember was about 10,000 ppl started rushing the stage and crap was flying through the air. They had all the gates locked except the ones at the front. It seemed to me the cops where waiting by the gates like sharks to jump ppl. I've hated Zeppelin, Tampa, and especially cops ever since.

[ReneeNme]

( cont'd ) I remember later that there was a full page apology to Led Zeppelin in the Tampa Tribune laying the blame of the riot on Zeppelin fans. What an out and out blatant lie. It wasn't of our doings, it was lack of communication on the part of the " Police " and stadium personnel. Once again...Freaking retards !!!

[ReneeNme]

I was there too. Wasn't it strange how that seemingly little rain cloud turned into a monster ?

Screw the man !!! We were just there to have a good time. Not our fault that the stadium exec's didn't have enough exit gates open so we could disperse quickly. Freaking retards !!!

[Ishhkabibble]

I didn't sleep in my own bed that night. I was a guest of the authorities down at pig central. I believe my invitation read "Hurling a deadly missile at a police officer in the line of duty". Read my full account of the brutality on Zeppelins official web site.

[ecarlolson]

I was there too!!! Wow, we drove from Miami, FL to see the show. We were on the field, maybe 25 yards from the stage. I believe the last song played was the "rain Song"? The thunderstorm was intense, & I recall the band saying they had to go, it was unsafe. Then all hell broke loose! The crowd was throwing stuff on stage, knocked over the stage retaining wall, & were on stage smashing the equipment. The announcement soon came: Anyone left in the Stadium will be arrested. Wild stuff man.

[finfan00]

I was there too! I was 17. guitarmentor, you pretty much described what I saw as well. I'll never forget cops dragging this long haired guy by his hair while other cops were smacking himmwith their billy clubs as he was being dragged... a real shocker for a stoned 17 year old to grasp. I always loved LZ though, finally got to see them in July 1980, on their last tour, European tour, their 3rd to last last live show ever...